The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Sunday Abutu, said a male and a female, believed to be in their 20s, drowned while attempting to swim in the river.
Abutu said, “The police were invited after the incident had happened. The victims’ bodies have been recovered and deposited in a morgue.
“Groups of boys and girls usually go to the river area for whatever activities they indulge themselves in. But unfortunately, on Sunday, two of them drowned. We were called upon and when we got there, we were able to take their bodies to the morgue.”
Sources said young men and women usually visited the river for a wide range of purposes, including swimming and criminal activities such as Indian hemp smoking, peddling and using drugs, prostitution and initiation into cults, thus constituting themselves into threats to society.
A source alleged that the two deceased persons jumped into the Ureje River in order to evade arrest by security agents, who had trailed some suspects to the area.
The source said efforts to rid the place of criminals, who had turned themselves into terror, had proved abortive.
“Though the death of these youths is saddening, the activities of the group here are disturbing. We learnt that the deceased were only trying to run away from security agents, who were on the trail of some suspects,” he stated.